Every disaster story deserves a sequel. This one highlighted the creativity of the universe and its ability to keep me guessing.
Picture this: it’s August 27th of 2025, and I’m consistently using my zero-turn lawnmower for the unapproved purpose of brush clearance when, suddenly, the noise abruptly changes. The blades are no longer spinning.
Well, I’ve been through this before: I’ve replaced the deck belt on this thing often enough to have learned to keep a spare, so that’s alright. This is going to be an easy job!
I get it back to the spot outside the shed where I’ve become used to conducting repair work. I set the deck to the lowest point, kill the engine and take a look.
The belt is fine. It’s the spindle that’s given up the ghost.
Okay, well guess what? I’ve replaced enough of these in my time that I know what to do, plus last time I thought the spindle was bent I got a replacement. The spindle was, in fact, fine, so I have a spare on hand. Lucky me!
Replacing it was straightforward, but as I finished the replacement, I noticed that the back left tire was flat. Well, apparently, that tire has never been flat before, and it’s interesting to note that the other one – which goes flat on a regular enough basis that I’ve become quite skilled at repairing it – is close to the ejection port, so I’m thinking that this is why that tire goes flat as often as it does.
Quite what I’m going to do with that information isn’t clear yet.
There was no tube in the thing and, at some point in time, something has been added to try to plug any punctures. If this was Slime, then it turned from green to brown over time. Brown and nasty
It’s at this point, having fixed this wheel with a new inner tube, that I noticed there was a distinct difference between the right-hand side – the side with which I’m quite familiar – and the left-hand side. This difference is directly connected to the failure of the right-hand parking brake to engage. There’s a piece missing. Two actually. A piece that locks the gear in place, and a spring.
For some reason I don’t have pictures of this repair. I think that’s because it’s around this time that my old phone quit making and receiving phone calls and texts, and I’d had to switch to a temporary iPhone.
Anyway, that having been fixed with freshly ordered parts, we were back in business, and in the meantime, the grass was growing.
You may or may not remember that I’m in the process of clearing the perimeter to build a fence. The plan is that I can walk around outside this fence and still on my own property, rather than have to work separate stretches of perimeter fence with seven different neighbors. Regardless of that, it seemed a good idea at the time to mow that outer path first before mowing around the house. That way any impending disaster would be more likely to happen nearer the shed: disasters become more likely over time, rather than less.
But that didn’t work out at all.
Halfway around there was a terrible rattling sound from underneath and a definitely unnecessary amount of belt smoke. (When you’ve mistreated your equipment as much as I have, you get to know belt smoke quite well and use it as the equipment’s way of telling you to stop whatever you’re doing before the machine stops it for you.)
So, I head back toward the house.
Well, that was the plan, at least, and after much cajoling and bullying, I got the reluctant mower back up the hill, looked underneath it, and started down the new chain of breakages.
The transmission belt was badly beaten up.
This was because the idler pulley was badly beaten up.
One piece led to another, and when the machine was finally returned to service on either the 13th or 14th of September, the wife had decided enough was enough, and now I’m not allowed to use this mower to clear brush anymore.
So…
That’s how my Summer has ended. Fall has arrived, the fence clearance is only half complete, and the only piece of equipment on hand capable of getting the job done has been retired from abuse and will only mow lawn from now on.
What an ignominious end for such a useful piece of equipment!
Categories: Lawnmower, Other Work, Work Around the Property
Andrew Wellington 
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